RUSSIA

EMPLOYEE OF OPPOSITION PAPER ATTACKED IN
KALMYKIA
Semen Ageev, an employee of "Sovetskaya
Kalmykia Segodnya," was beaten on 16 June as he was
distributing the newspaper on a bus in the capital of
Kalmykia, ITAR-TASS reported. The newspaper's editor,
Larisa Yudina, was killed on 7 June. According to the
Yabloko press service, the bus driver hit Ageev several
times and said that "all of you should be killed," before
throwing him off the bus. Meanwhile, "Komsomolskaya
pravda" reported on 17 June that local observers believe
Tyurbi Boskomdzhiev, one of the two suspects who has
confessed to Yudina's murder, was "set up" and had nothing
to do with the crime. Citing unnamed sources,
"Komsomolskaya pravda" reported that Sergei Vaskin, the
other suspect who has confessed to the crime, had a fresh
deep scratch on his face when he was arrested--a possible
result of a struggle with the journalist. LB